Can Nuclear War Save the World?

I can see only one way that humanity can deal with global warming. I sure hope I'm wrong.

Submitted:Nov 18, 2012
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CAN NUCLEAR WAR SAVE THE WORLD?

Hurricane Sandy is just the most recent in a series of extreme
weather events which show that climate change is happening fast,
really fast, faster even than most climatologists expected. The
two greatest threats to humanity today are global warming and
nuclear war. As I write this, at the end of the year 2012, yet
another international climate change conference has ended in
failure. Meanwhile, CO2 emissions continue to increase at an
increasing rate. From 1990 to 2000, emissions increased by
about 1% a year. From 2000 to the beginning of 2010, they
increased at about 2 ½ % a year. From 2010 to 2011 alone CO2
emissions increased almost 6%. Let's admit it. The battle to
stabilize CO2 levels in the atmosphere is over. We lost. The
clowns we elected to govern us continue to assure us that the
threat of global warming is manageable while they refuse to do
anything to manage it. Like modern-day Neros, they seem
determined to fiddle while our planet burns.

These clowns have actually made some progress in reducing the
total number of nuclear weapons that are active (meaning armed,
aimed, and ready to go). The threats from these weapons are not
quite as desperate as those from global warming but they are
still very severe, partly because more countries have acquired
them. North Korea has just joined the lengthening list of
countries that possess their very own atom bomb. As the list
grows longer, the risk of nuclear war increases.

A great many Nervous Nellies, professional crepe hangers, and
worry warts have lamented, bemoaned, and bewailed the fact that
governments of the world are unable (in other words, unwilling)
to deal with either of these threats. Not me. I consider myself
an optimist and so I can appreciate a fact that has escaped most
other people. The second threat can provide a solution to the
first.

Some people pray that any future nuclear exchanges will be
limited to just a few nations and a few nuclear missiles. Not me.
I hope and believe that if two nations get into a nuclear dust-up
allies of both countries will join in and dozens or even hundreds
of mushroom clouds will sprout. Yes, yes I know billions of
people will die but look on the bright side. Have you ever heard
of nuclear winter? A couple hundred nuclear explosions might put
so much dust into the air that it will block the sun's rays and
cool the planet. I guess most experts think this cooling effect
will be small but even a little bit will help. And we may get
lucky. There are still over 20,000 nuclear bombs in the world,
though only a little over 6,000 of these are active. What if half
of these are used? If we get a little bit of cooling from a few
hundred nuclear explosions, think how much we will get from
3,000.

When you think of all the people who may die from the effects of
global warming I think we will come out ahead if we kill just a
few billion in a massive nuclear war that ends up cooling the
planet in the short run. And don't forget that a good nuclear war
will destroy so much manufacturing capacity and power generation
capacity that we can't possibly keep putting as much CO2 into the
air as we have been. Anyway, with a few billion less people we
won't need nearly as much power or manufactured goods so we won't
have to keep producing them and using the atmosphere as a CO2
sewer.

Let me also make another important point. Global warming hurts
the poor MORE than the rich. Rich countries have the money to
protect their citizens from the worst effects of global warming
while poor countries do not. Therefore, most of those who die
from global warming will be poor people living in poor countries.
That doesn't sound very fair does it?

On the other hand, nuclear missiles are aimed at big cities and
other population centers, mostly in developed countries where the
wealthier people live. Nuclear war will kill a lot of the poor
but it will also probably kill even more of the rich. You might
say nuclear war is a more fair way to kill millions than global
warming. I'm all for that. See how you can find silver linings in
the future's dark clouds if you just keep a positive mental
attitude? I'll bet you feel better about the future already.

Let's face it, governments are not going to force their people to
cut CO2 emissions. If we don't want to see half the seacoast
cities on the planet drowned, if we don't relish the idea of
malaria and dengue fever epidemics in Northern Europe, Siberia
and Canada, if we don't want to have to run air conditioners in
December while millions in poor countries die of the heat, we
really have only one hope, nuclear winter. So the next time you
hear that another belligerent and bellicose country has gotten
nuclear weapons, don't be scared. Just remember the chance of
nuclear winter has just increased.

The only question that worries me now is, "Will nuclear war come
in time?" Let us pray that it will. Here are some steps we can
take to ensure a speedy nuclear holocaust. First, continue to
promote the most important principle of all nuclear negotiations:
Nuclear weapons must be eliminated from every country but our
own. If we don't have these weapons we must get them. If we have
these weapons we must keep them. As long as all parties cling to
this principle, nuclear war is inevitable. Second, continue to
promote the many regional wars currently costing lives around the
globe. As countries with nuclear weapons engage in conventional
warfare, there is always the chance it will escalate. Finally,
and most importantly, continue to be complacent. Maybe I'm too
optimistic but I think if we just relax and let things continue
on their present path, its only a question of time before the
mushroom clouds sprout and shortly thereafter, the earth will
cool down, maybe only a little but maybe a lot.

What I am saying seems insane, and it is. I guess the most sane
and sensible thing to do is to try to prevent nuclear war so that
we can continue to consume more fossil fuel and continue to use
our air as a CO2 toilet. Eventually, our climate will reach a
tipping point, if we haven't already reached it. This will mean
runaway planetary warming that we cannot stop. When this happens,
the long-term effects may make nuclear war seem like a birthday
present.